Laundry aid



Jan. 29, 1957 w. J. SCHENCK, SR

LAUNDRY AID Filed Jan. 5, 1954 III! I' I I I I I I I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I I I l I I I IIIIIIIIIIIII IN VEN TOR.

#44152 d. saws/van 82.

%"%maz)@muwz v XQMZZQQw-n 4 TTOK/VfrJ United States Patent LAUNDRY AID Walter J. Schenck, Sr., St. Louis, Mo.

Application January 5, 1954, Serial No. 402,319

2 Claims. (Cl. 24-137) This invention relates to laundry aids and more particularly to a connecting pin for securing similar ones of a pair of clothing articles together during the drying operation.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a laundry aid which will secure together similar ones of a pair of clothing articles, such as gloves, socks, mittens, stockings or handkerchiefs, so that the pair will not become separated during drying, thus providing for easy sorting after laundering and preventing loss of one of a pair of clothing articles to render the remaining one valueless.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a laundry aid in the form of a connecting pin which will be capable of easy application to secure together similar ones of a pair of clothing articles and which while securing the pair together will not injure the clothing articles in any way.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a laundry aid which may be attached to and will secure together similar ones of a pair of clothing articles and which may be employed to dry the articles connected together, after they are washed, by suspension from an ordinary clothes line.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, forming the specification, and taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of the laundry aid embodying this invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a top plan view;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the laundry aid securing a pair of hose together and suspended from a clothes line for drying;

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken on line 55 of Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a modified form of the invention showing attachment to a key chain.

With continued reference to the drawings, there is shown the laundry aid, generally indicated at 10, in the form of a connecting pin. The connecting pin defining the laundry aid 16 comprises a body 12 formed of fiat metal stock, preferably spring steel, and has extending from one end 14 thereof a pair of wavy legs 16 and 18 closely spaced one from the other and extending parallel to each other. The free ends 20 and 22 respectively of the legs 16 and 18 are provided with rubber tips 24 and 25 respectively covering the terminal portions of the respective ree ends 20 and 22. The legs 16 and 18 are preferably integrally formed with the body 12 and are formed of spring metal, such as steel, so that they have inherent resilience and when spread apart so that similar ones of a pair of clothing articles, such as the similar socks 26 and 27, may be inserted between the legs 16 and 18 and the legs will return to their normal position so that the rubber tips 24 and 25 will connect and secure together the similar ones of a pair of clothing articles "ice After laundering and wringing, the similar ones of a pair of clothing articles are connected together by the device 10, and while still connected may be suspended from a clothes line, such as the clothes line 28 shown in Figure 4, by the head 30 having an opening 32 transversely therethrough to receive the clothes line 28. The head 3!} is defined by a pair of arcuately formed arms 34 and 36 extending outwardly from the end 38 of the body 12 remote from the end 14 from which the legs 16 and 18 extend. The arms 34 and 36 are preferably formed integrally with the body 12 and are of the same material, namely, spring metal, and the arms are arranged in mutually opposed relation so that their arcuate form defines the opening 32 therebetween. The free ends 40 and 42 are provided with inwardly projecting ribs 44 and 46 respectively which are in abutting relation with each other. With this construction of the head 3%, it will be seen that to apply the device 10 to a clothes line is merely a matter of slightly separating the arms 34 and 36 so that the clothes line, such as clothes line 28, may be received in the opening 32. The natural resilience of the arms 34 and 36 will cause them to return to their normal position wherein the respective ribs 44 and 46 are again in abutting relation thereby closing the openable end of the opening 32. In effect, the head 30 defines a clip-on eyelet for attachment to a clothes line. The interior concave surface 48 of each of the arms 34 and 36 are provided with longitudinally extending, spaced ribs 50 to prevent the clip-on eyelet defined by the head 30 from sliding along the clothes line 28 or from being blown along the line by the wind.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that there has been provided a laundry aid in the form of a connecting pin which connects together similar ones of a pair of a clothing article at one end thereof so as to keep the articles together and provides a clip-on eyelet at its other end for attachment to a clothes line whereby the laundering process may be completed by permitting the articles to dry and still maintain the pair together at all times so that subsequent sorting of the articles will be quick and efficient as well as preventing loss and separation of one of a pair of similar articles from the other one of the pair.

In Figure 6, there is shown a modification of the device of Figures 1 through 5, the modification being one principally in function. The structural changes in the modification are directed to the head portion which in the modification shows a head'52 which is of solid construction, as compared to the bifurcation provided by the arms 32 and 34 in the case of the head 30, and has a hole 54 centrally and transversely therethrough to receive a key chain 56 therein. Key chain 56, as shown in Figure 6, may carry thereon a plurality of connecting clips. The other end of the modified form of the device is of the same structure as hereinbefore described but is adapted to connect together the single ones of a pair of gloves while the key chain on which the head 52 of the modified form is carried by the key chain 56 which is adapted to be secured to the handle ring, or other convenient part, of a womans purse so that one or more pairs of gloves may be carried by the purse externally thereof. In other words, the modified form of the invention illustrates a glove connecting pin in combination with a key chain.

While there are shown and described the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the structure is susceptible to change and modification within the practicability of the invention and therefore should be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry aid for securing similar ones of a pair of clothing articles together, comprising a body; means projecting from one end of the body for suspending the same from a clothesline, comprising a head having a length substantially equal to that of the body, said head including a pair of arcuately, oppositely bowed arms integral at one end with said end of the body, said arms being of spring material and being under tension effective to normally bias the arms into engagement with each other at their other ends, said other ends of the arms being formed with inwardly projecting ribs extending transversely of the arms from side to side thereof and abutting against one another when said other ends of the arms are in engagement, said arms being formed, on the confronting faces thereof, with longitudinally extending, spaced ribs extending between said one end of the arms and said first named ribs and terminating at their opposite ends in closely spaced relation both to said one end of the arms and the first named ribs respectively, the second named ribs being adapted to engage opposite sides of a clothes line gripped between the arms, the first named ribs, in the clothes-line-engaging positions of a second named rib, abutting against one another outwardly from said clothesline to hold the arms against movement in the direction of their lengths off the clotheslines; and a pair of longitudinally contacting spring legs integral at one end with and extending from the other end of the body, said spring legs being tensioned to normally engage one another and being free of connections to one another at their other ends, for spreading of the legs for insertion of clothing articles therebetween.

2. A laundry aid for securing similar ones of a pair of: clothing articles together, comprising a body; means projecting from one end of the body for suspending the same from a clothesline, comprising a head having a length substantially equal to that of the body, said head including a pair of arcuately, oppositely bowed arms integral at one end with said end of the body, said arms being of spring material and being under tension effective to normally bias the arms into engagement with each other at their other ends, said other ends of the arms being formed with inwardly projecting ribs extending transversely of the arms from side to side thereof substantially perpendicularly to the length of the arms and abutting against one another when said other ends of the arms are in engagement, the arms being formed, on the confronting faces thereof, with longitudinally extending, transversely spaced ribs extending between said one end of the arms and said transverse ribs and terminating at their opposite ends in closely spaced relation both to said one end of the arms and the first named ribs respectively, the first and second named ribs having their crest portions spaced outwardly from the confronting faces of the respective arms, the second named ribs comprising the sole ribs in the area between said one end of the arms and said first named ribs, the first named ribs comprising the sole ribs in the area between the adjacent ends of the second named ribs and the outer extremities of the respective arms, the second named ribs being adapted to engage opposite sides of a clothesline gripped between the arms to hold the arms against movement in a direction transversely of their lengths along the clothesline, the first named ribs in the clothesline engaging positions of the second named ribs abutting against one another outwm'dly from said clothesline to hold the arms against movement in the direction of their lengths Oif the clotheslines; and a pair of longitudinally contacting spring legs integral at one end with and extending from the other end of the body, said spring legs being tensioned to normally engage one another and being free of connections to one another at their other ends, for spreading of the legs for insertion of clothing articles therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 303,674 Snellentrop Aug. 19, 1884 668,088 Bruce Feb. 12, 1901 968,628 Zeigler Aug. 30, 1910 1,294,954 Sampson Feb. 18, 1919 1,528,454 Taggart Mar. 3, 1925 l,547,547 Zadek July 28, 1925 1,643,661 Kendall Sept. 27, 1927 2,183,730 Clute Dec. l9, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 58,374 Austria of 1913 

